Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer

T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive cancer of white blood cells which affects both children and adults. Many children with T-ALL can be cured with very intensive chemotherapy, but there are significant long term health problems associated with this therapy. A major goal for T-ALL is to develop new therapies that can help reduce the burden of treatment and offer cures to the approximately 20% of pediatric patients who succumb to the disease.

Synovial sarcoma (SS) is the second most common soft-tissue tumor in children and adolescents after rhabdomyosarcoma. The first case of a fetal synovial sarcoma was recently reported. Synovial sarcoma most frequently develops in the soft tissues of the joints, but is also known to appear in other organs such as the kidney. It is an aggressive tumor with a very high five year-mortality rate and for which no curative therapy exists.

Cancer is a condition of uncontrolled cell growth and division. Cells must duplicate their genetic material, DNA, prior to cell division. This process requires a period of preparation by the cell. Having duplicated its DNA, the cell must reconfigure its resources to permit division into two daughter cells. These are extraordinarily complex processes that involve the contributions of many proteins working in a coordinated fashion. These processes are carefully regulated.